Sound Design Portfolio

Head Smashed In Buffalo Jump “Pitch”

Bison have terrible distance vision. Taking advantage of this, First Nations in Southern Alberta created a trap by dressing as wolves and herding large groups of buffalo over a cliff to their deaths. The food this supplied was critical to the survival of these First Nations peoples. In this “Theatre of the Mind” depiction, all sounds are true to the era and region of Southern Alberta. The sound design is organized to build the drama from the innocent start of the hunt to the heart stopping moment where the buffalo crashed over the cliff. We challenged our friend Brent Hodgins to create “mood” music with instruments native to Southern Alberta First Nations, and mixed all of the elements to put the listener at the base of the cliff…heads up!